Apple Acquires Social-Based Search Engine Spotsetter

According to a report by TechCrunch, Apple has acquired Spotsetter. Spotsetter is a social search engine that offered personalized recommendations on places to go. Spotsetter worked on a technology that involves layering of social data on top of a maps interface. It uses an algorithm to collect information from users’ social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and Instagram. Then it pairs the collected information from the social networks with information from services such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, The New York Times, Zagat and Michelin to provide recommendations on where to go.

As of last year, Spotsetter said it had processed 5 million user profiles and around 40 million venues. The acquisition is mainly about acquiring the technology and the talent of the two founders: Stephen Tse (ex-Google Maps engineer) and Johnny Lee; both of whose LinkedIn profiles now say they’re working with Apple. Few more employees from Spotsetter have also joined Apple.

Spotsetter was available on both iOS and Android until recently. Last week Johnny Lee posted an announcement on the company’s blog about the closure of the App. The company had raised $1.3 million in seed-funding before its launch ten months ago.